Let’s Learn Latin–?!

Hello there. My name is Rico, and this is my first post. Like Jayvee, I was taught Latin in high school, so I’m also here to introduce you to the language and its intricacies. Give a little time to remember everything though!

On official documents I’m known as Enrique Vicente Mossesgeld. In Latin, my name would be Hericus Vincentius Mossesgeldus. Ok, not as a grand as Maximus Decimus Meridius, but still pretty cool, don’t you think?

Wanna turn your name into Latin? Read on.

Give them bread and the circus.

I choose to look at history as a circle rather than linear, where events always tend to repeat themselves and lessons become unlearned by the next generation. A good example of this is the socio-political concept of crowd control back in the days. The Romans enjoyed a democracy which was fueled by bread and the circus. Circus Maximus was the main source of all particular adult attractions at that time, including gladiator bloodbaths (gladius means sword) and equestrians (equus means horse) staged at the center of the circus, called the Arena. The word arena comes from the Latin harena which means “sand.” Sand can do wonders to sanitation during that time. It as the best way to cover up the blood spilled by beheadings.

Bread and entertainment. Isn’t that a good juxtaposition of our times today?

Juvenal, a first century Roman satirist loosely translates this to “you know, just give them a hunk of focaccia and put on a good show.” [source]

There are a great many great famous quotes that I’ve kept close to heart these past several years. One of these comes from a random philosopher who probably wrote his dissertation on the toga. The saying goes, “semper ubi, sub ubi.”

It means “always where under where.”

Actually, it’s really just a nonsensical Latin phrase that when translated to English, really means “always wear underwear.” But you knew that already. So the next time you’re in a social event, cocktails and all, it would be nice to quote the great Latin scholars with their take on fashion, as it can get quite chilly underneath that toga.

Semper ubi, sub ubi.

Hola amigos! Ave mei amici!

You know it just struck me one day that I’ve practically made no use of my four years of reading, studying and translating almost meaningless words and phrases from English to Latin and vice versa. I’m not a Latin scholar. It just so happened that my high school required everyone, once upon a time to take a four year Latin course integrated into the curriculum.

A short history should suffice: I went to PAREF Southridge School for Boys and there were over 64 of us in the batch divided into two sections. We took up Latin twice a week, 40 minutes per session and it was hell. Which is why the tag “Latin killed the Ancient Romans, and now it’s killing me too” was very prominent and engraved in our hearts in the same way that Spartans were trained to kill.

So why am I doing this? I have absolutely no friggin reason. I just felt that it would be an interesting as well as humorous exercise to brush up on some of my mediocre (mediocritas, - tatis: n; in the middle, moderation - quite a far fetched meaning from what it means today) Latin skills. Note that I do not speak Latin. I can only translate. Speaking Latin is like … trying to resurrect the Betamax.

This is a reloaded learning experience for me. I will tackle Latin (and some Greek) history, word meanings and origins, trivia, as well as humorous experiences back in the high school days. Time to dust off the old high school notes.

A disclaimer: I most probably WILL make mistakes. Which is why I will be needing the support of people like Jason, Rico, Gabe and other language geeks out there. This is, again, not a scholarly approach to Latin, but something just for fun!

This blog is open to contributions from anyone interested in history and language!

Hic Dant! (Let’s do this!)